Sunday, December 18, 2011

Christmas Crafts

Last spring I had the pleasure of watching a fantastic concert as part of PBS fundraising. It was the 25th Anniversary concert of Les Miserables filmed in October 2010. The tenor singing the role of Jean Valjean blew me away and I had to find out who he was. Little did I know that it would change my life. As I searched online for more information I joined his official website and have made friends from England and the US, one of which is a quilter so I will get to making this about quilting. But first, Alfie Boe has an amazing voice, an amazing story and is a wonderful person. Just Google his name if you want to learn more and there are lots of videos on youtube but here's a link to one with images of the concert including Alfie singing the signature song, Bring Him Home: http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=RTXGA6l7LDU

The quilter I met is Nancy H. who is from Arizona. Nancy went to London last September to see Mr. Boe perform the role of Jean Valjean in the stage production of Les Miserables at the Queens Theatre and I was there in October to celebrate my XXth (BIG) birthday seeing Alfie in Les Mis. After months of online correspondence, Nancy recently came to visit and she brought me a lovely gift that she had made.

These buttons are all hand stitched to the red fabric and then set in the frame with the handsome bow. Needless to say, I was quite surprised and pleased to have received this lovely gift.

So, in return, I have sent to Nancy this Snowman Door Hanger I made for her.

And while she was here visiting, we thought it appropriate that we should have Afternoon Tea to celebrate our trips to England and our new found friendship -- all because of a certain English Tenor.

Nancy and Bobbi at Afternoon Tea

By the way, we both, separately, made quilts for Alfie for his birthday, but perhaps that's for another day's blog.

I hope all of your craft projects are finished and you are as happy to give and receive them as I am.